Birthday?
by BOO-imawriter
Summary: The Straw Hat crew is celebrating someone's birthday today! But the captain can't remember who it is and his crewmates are being suspiciously secretive about it. Will he find out, and whose birthday is it? Find out in this short story!


Hello, this would probably be my last release before I finally enter NS (*sobs*)  
Wanted to publish more but a lot of things caught up with me... *haiz*  
This is a birthday fic (the first one I've tried) for Luffy... hope it's okay...  
I think I'll only have time after quite a few months before I can start writing again...

Until next time, Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: Entering the army... Things catching up on me delaying releases... Listening to music at 12 am in the morning while writing fanfics... I don't think I sound like any bestseller manga artist, do I?

* * *

When Luffy woke up that morning, he didn't know what was going on. He didn't wake up early, but usually there would be about 2 or 3 others that would still be in the quarters when he woke up. Not today, apparently. The entire men's quarters' was devoid of human life besides his. Wondering about it, he got out of bed and went out.

The activity on deck served to confuse him even further. The entire crew was busy running around, carrying things and such. There were decorations being laid out over the ship, balloons hanging around everywhere and a gigantic banner that said "Happy Birthday". He scratched his head vigorously, thinking of whose birthday he had so carelessly forgotten. When that failed (that process took five seconds), he looked for the swordsman, hoping that he wasn't about to be sliced to pieces.

He found the swordsman in the kitchen, bargaining with the cook over something booze-related. Hoping in the back of his mind that the birthday did _not_ belong to either one of them, he interrupted their conversation to ask his question.

"Hey, Zoro?"

"I said I need more… Oh, Luffy? What's up?"

"Well…whose birthday is it today?"

Instead of answering, the swordsman instead turned back to the cook and said, "See, I told you! You owe me 1000 beli!"

"No way, are you serious?" The cook approached him (which made Luffy a bit uneasy) and looked him straight in the eye before asking, "Do you seriously not know whose birthday it is today?"

Not that he was capable of lying, but the captain was in such a position that even if he could he wouldn't, so he simply nodded his head. The cook, apparently satisfied with the answer, lowered his head dejectedly, mumbling something under his breath while returning to the stove, leaving Luffy even more confused than he was before. As the cook and swordsman engaged in another bout of combat, he left the kitchen to find someone that could help him with this problem.

Usopp had an entire plantation's worth of flowers laid out in front of him as he painstakingly threaded each one into his new design that he had thought of all week. Which meant that when Luffy nearly stepped onto his lovely design, he freaked.

"Luffy, get away from the flowers! Now!"

"Ahh? Oh, okay… By the way, Usopp, can you tell me…"

"Not now, Luffy, this is the hardest part! I need my full concentration or else it wouldn't be finished! Go find someone else!"

Rejected, Luffy went off to find someone else.

A good portion of the crew had disappeared of the deck of the ship. Only Usopp and Brook were still there. With no one left to turn to, he headed for the skeleton.

The musician seemed to be in deep thought. He was sitting on the swing, but without his eyes he could well be sleeping. The captain slowly walked up to him, before asking.

"Hey, Brook?"

"Hmm…?"

"Whose birthday is it today?"

Brook stared at him for so long he thought he was sleeping, but then he suddenly screamed out so loudly that Luffy looked at him in horror.

"SKULL SHOCK! Ah, Luffy-san, are you okay? I hope I didn't scare you…"

"No, it's okay…"

"Ah, that was a shock. I was concentrating so much that I didn't notice you were talking to me. I felt as though my heart was about to fly out of my chest…even though I don't have either! Yohohohohoho! Skull Joke!"

Luffy was okay enough to laugh along with him, but was starting to get impatient having already been denied his answer twice.

"Hey, Brook?"

"Ahh, yes, sorry about that, what was it you wanted?"

"Well…whose birthday is it today?"

Brook stared at him in another short moment, before replying.

"Well, I could say that that is the bigger shock today! All I can really tell you is that it's not mine, so don't worry about that. Why don't you ask around? Someone is bound to give you the answer. Oh, you've given me an idea for a new song! Excuse me as I find some paper to write it on…"

Brook walked of in the direction of the observation room to get the paper, leaving a really confused Luffy behind him.

Luffy wandered on deck for a while, trying hard to remember the birthdays of his crewmates. After a while, Franky came up on deck, apparently for some rest from whatever work he was doing. Luffy took the chance to walk over and ask him.

"Erm… Franky…"

"Huh? Oh, Luffy, what's wrong?"

"Well… Whose birthday is it today? I seem to have remembered someone's wrongly but I can't remember…"

Franky stared at him with a weird look, before answering.

"Well, if you remembered someone's wrongly, then you should ask them to confirm it with you. Then, it wouldn't be so easy to forget it next time. It's not mine, by the way, so you're better off finding someone else. How about those that went to town? They might be the ones…"

Franky then went into the kitchen, leaving a very confused Luffy behind. The young captain could only tilt his head in wonder, before jumping off the ship and heading into town.

~O.O~

The Straw Hats were docked a rather peaceful island, by the name of Brenna. The town was rather huge, covering almost half of the entire island, so when Luffy went off searching for his crewmates, it took a very long while before he found anyone. By chance, he had just stepped out of an alley when he spotted Robin and Chopper turning the corner down the street. He dashed after them, which was a cause of surprise for both his crewmates, as well as the townsfolk that were around.

"Ah… Found you guys…"

"Hmm…? Luffy, were you looking for us?" The innocent doctor waited for Luffy to say something, while the archaeologist continued to flip through the book she was reading.

"Well… Er… Do you guys know whose birthday it is today?"

"Of course we do, it's y-" Chopper was cut off as two hands grew from his shoulders and covered his mouth.

"Luffy, it's rather rude to ask something like that. Don't you try at all to remember someone's birthday?" Robin said as Chopper struggled against the hands holding him.

"Well, I do… But it seems that I got mixed up… Brook's is in April, so is Usopp's… Chopper's is before Christmas so his is the easiest to remember… Sanji's is in March, so is Franky's, and Zoro's is in November… I think? Nami's is in July… Your's is in February… So whose did I get wrong…?"

Robin smiled before answering him.

"Well, it's not mine… And it's certainly not the young doctor's. Why don't you run along and find someone else that you haven't asked?"

"Huh? I asked Zoro and Sanji but neither of them answered me. Brook and Franky said it wasn't theirs. Usopp was too busy to care… The only one left is Nami…"

"Oh? You haven't asked Nami yet? Who knows what she'll do if it's her…"

"Eh…? Robin, you don't know?"

"I have an idea…but that won't really help you right now, will it? Why don't you walk around? I'm sure that Nami around the town somewhere."

Luffy could only shake his head in confusion at the answer as he turned and walked off.

As soon as Luffy was out of sight, Robin released Chopper. Chopper then asked Robin, "Why did you have to do that? Isn't it rather mean?"

All Robin gave was a mysterious smile.

~O.O~

It was already evening when the captain decided to forget about finding Nami in town and headed back to the ship. He had run around the entire town twice and had even run into the forest on the other side of the island to think about it, but the 'someone' that the birthday belonged to was still lost to him. When he reached the ship, though, he was in for a surprise.

The entire Sunny was decorated with lights, balloons and all sorts of streamers across the entire ship. The deck was loaded with tables of food, and the smell from the kitchen meant that Sanji was still cooking _more_. Resisting the urge to grab the food (indeed, if he hadn't been trying to find out whose birthday it is _all day_, he may have succumbed to it), he looked for the one person on the ship left that he hadn't asked.

Nami was on deck, as was everyone except the cook. Brook went off to get him as the rest watched the captain approach the navigator, most of them with smirks on their faces.

The navigator looked up from the dish that Sanji had asked her to taste to the approaching captain. She had noticed the crew's peculiar actions and had gotten most of the story off Chopper, but the sight of the captain trying painstakingly to abstain from the food in front of him while walking to her was something else. When he reached her, she could see the beads of sweat flowing down the side of his head. Holding back her laughter, she composed herself and looked up to the captain properly.

Luffy was wrestling with the incredible urge to take some of the food on the tables. It was so bad that the time he took to walk to Nami took way longer than usual. When he reached the Nami, he thought that she was giggling, but thought otherwise when she looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"Er… Nami…"

"Yes?" Nami was wearing a rather bright smile. Sanji had just arrived, but he was already covering his face to conceal his laughter, as was Usopp and Franky. The smile was a clear indication that she was near the edge, but to Luffy it seemed dangerous. He gulped before continuing.

"Well… Erm… That's…"

"Well, what is it?" Nami interrupted him; she was so close to the breaking point that she was trying to get him to hurry up. Luffy, of course, didn't know this. Thinking that she was angry, he quickly asked.

"W-Whose birthday is it today…"

Nami restrained herself really hard, in doing so she assumed the same position she usually does to beat someone up, and the captain, thinking she was about to bash him up, backed away and raised his hands in defence.

At this point, it was too much. Nami, as well as the entire crew behind her, burst out laughing.

"Ehh? What…what's going on?"

Nami, being unable to answer, simply pointed up towards something behind him. Luffy turned to look at whatever she was pointing at.

The banner from the morning was still there, but this time the flowers that Usopp was working with were suspended right below it. The flowers were threaded into a name, telling everyone who was looking whose birthday it was. Luffy stared at it for a while, before joining his crew in laughing.

The banner with the flowers now said: 'Happy Birthday Luffy!'

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As I said, this would be the last release in a long while, so don't expect anything else...

So how was that? Leave some reviews (not that I'll be able to read them for a while)!

Oh ya, Happy Brithday Luffy!

Thanks for Reading!


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